MQTT General Questions

What is MQTT?

MQTT is a lightweight publish/subscribe messaging protocol designed for M2M (machine to machine) telemetry in low bandwidth environments. It works on top of the TCP/IP protocol and it needs a central MQTT Broker to collect and send data from and to publishing and subscribing machines.

What is a MQTT broker?

MQTT Broker is a central server or middle-ware which act as an interface between publisher & subscriber and used to collect the data from the publisher device and send it to the subscribers device. A device wants to send data to the broker, it is called a publisher and a device wants to receive data from the broker, it is called as subscriber

Why MQTT is used in IoT?

MQTT is a lightweight, machine to machine communications protocol which helps the small IoT device in low bandwidth or network to send or publish data to the MQTT Broker or server. MQTT protocol provides faster response and throughput, lower battery and bandwidth usage, and work in low or poor network connectivity. It also provides secure communication via TLS/SSL, edge level authentication and QoS to manage data traffic to reduce packet loss and latency on the network. This advantages make MQTT well-suited for “internet of things” applications

Does MQTT require Internet?

If you connect the MQTT broker and your client or device under the same network, the internet is not needed. But if you want to connect a device from a different network, you must host the MQTT Broker in cloud and connect your device via internet using Public Ip address. We recommend hosting the Broker securely on the cloud for controlling devices from anywhere.

Who invented MQTT?

MQTT was invented by Dr Andy Stanford-Clark of IBM, and Arlen Nipper of Arcom (now Eurotech), in 1999.

Is MQTT a standard?

As of March 2013, MQTT is in the process of undergoing standardisation at OASIS.

The protocol specification has been openly published with a royalty-free license for many years, and companies such as Eurotech (formerly known as Arcom) have implemented the protocol in their products.

How does MQTT relate to SCADA protocol and MQIsdp?

The “SCADA protocol” and the “MQ Integrator SCADA Device Protocol” (MQIsdp) are both old names for what is now known as MQTT. The protocol has also been known as “WebSphere MQTT” (WMQTT), though that name is also no longer used.

What is a “bridge”?

The [Really Small Message Broker](Really Small Message Broker) documentation refers to the concept of a “bridge” (not covered in the MQTT specification directly).

This is a simple concept. A bridge allows incoming, outgoing or bidirectional topics to be shared (depending on the broker implementation). They are just one broker connecting to another broker as a client. The second broker doesn’t know that there is a broker on the other end, it just talks “normal” MQTT with it.

Is MQTT secure?

Yes, MQTT Broker is built with TLS/SSL and Edge device authentication. TLS/SSL which provides a secure mechanism and data encryption between device & MQTT broker and edge device authentication will help the edge device to connect with username and password for secure data transfer.

Does MQTT Broker use TCP or UDP?

MQTT Broker use TCP/IP protocol to establish connection to client or device. However, for devices which are connected under UDP or device which are using zigbee or bluetooth protocol can be connected to the Broker via MQTT-SN Gateway.

What port does MQTT use?

MQTT has two types of communication methodology. TCP and Websocket. For TCP Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) reserved TCP/IP port ‘1883’ for a unencrypted and TCP/IP port ‘8883’ for TLS/SSL communication. You can use any flexible port for the MQTT over WebSocket.

Is MQTT Broker store data?

The specification does not mandate it. But the brokers need to store data as the manager application needs to use the data. Bevywise MQTT Broker store mqtt data in database like SQLite[default], MySQL, Elastic search and Mongo DB. Users can also store the data to any database using Custom implementation.

How can I view the connected device and its data in MQTT Broker?

Users can view the all connected device and its published data in MQTT Broker user interface and dashboard. MQTT Broker also has an individual web view for each active and inactive devices. Users can view the status of each devices, Broker uptime, Error log, add authentication credentials [username and password], active and inactive topics and also download Client librairies from user interface. MQTT Broker user interface runs in 8080 port and users can access via “http://< server ip address or localhost >:8080”

Does MQTTRoute has Rule based automation?

Yes, MQTTRoute has a built-in rule engine which user an create rules or alert based on published messages. Rule engine help the users to send alert messages or forward published message to the subscriber when the data from a sensor crosses a certain threshold or range.

How can I build my IOT application over MQTT Broker ?

It is not advisable to build your IOT application via MQTT. You have to integrate using REST API. With this user can integrate their web application and get details about connected devices, authentication details etc by sending API request to MQTT Broker and the MQTTBroker send back data based on the API request or call.

Can I integrate MQTT Broker to my data visualization tool?

Yes, you can integrate MQTT Broker to your data visualization tool via Custom Implementation. Through custom implementation you can write your algorithm or code and push the data to your data visualization tool.

Is MQTT Broker can be hosted in containers?

Yes, our MQTT Broker can be hosted in Docker containers. Docker MQTT Broker will help you have more control over your IoT production environment.

I hope you like this post “MQTT General Questions”. Do you have any questions? Leave a comment down below! Thanks for reading. If you like this post probably you might like my next ones, so please support me by subscribing my blog.

About Us

IoTbyHVM.OOO is an attempt to help the people by sharing the knowledge and ideas about Internet of things and other technology related articles and videos. IoTbyHVM.OOO provides articles related to Arduino, Raspberry Pi, use of all general purpose sensors, circuits, home automation, drones, smart TV, voice control TV , Micro Controller etc. for DIY (Do it Yourself) purpose.

If you want to help support me on my journey, consider sharing my articles, or Buy me a Coffee!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.